Ventilating appliance for clothes-drying machines



c. w. COLLINS. VENTILATING APPLIANCE FOR CLOTHES DRYING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV- 20,1919.

Patented Sept. 27, 1921.

T F. E H A S T E F. H S 7.

l'\ ink APPLICATION FILED NOV-20 I919.

' PatentedSept- 27, 192 1.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. UNITED STATES CHARLES W. COLLINS, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

VENTILATING APPLIANCE FOR CLOTHES-DRYING MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 27, 1921..

Application filed November 20, 1919. Serial No. 339,379.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. CoLLINs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Ventilating Apphe ancesfor Clothes Drying Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus fpr the purification of air inclothes-drying machines for separating and removing lint or the likefrom .theair which is utilized as the drying medium.

The invention although especially designed for use in the clothes-dryingmachine illustrated and described. in U. S. Patent No. 1,155,468 issuedto me October 5, 1915, may be employed in other applications.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination ofdevices which essentially includes a reversible screen which in oneposition serves to arrest lint or other foreignsubstances carr ed by acurrent of air passing through such screen, and inan other or reversedposition of the screen the air current serves to remove the collectedsubstances or dirt from-the screen.

The invention further consists in the use in connection with a chamberor conduit through which currents of air are caused to travel for thepurpose of drying clothes therein of a by-passage through which such aircurrents escape for the purpose of removing and conveying the dirt fromthe screen to the external atmosphere.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view partly in sideelevation and partly in longitudinal section ofa clothes drying machinewith the present invention applied thereto.

, Fig. 2 is a view partly in front elevation and partly in transversesection of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view through 3-3 ofFig. 2. r i I The drier shown in said drawings is sub stantially similarto the one shown in the patent above referred to and illustrates suchparts thereof as are deemed necessary for an understanding of myimprovements.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 5 designates a substantiallyU-shaped casing or tank having superposed horizontally arranged conduitmembers 6 and 7 connected at their rear ends .by a curved way 8. Attheir forward ends, .said conduits are each proyided; with a two-partspring "closing door, of which the upper door 9, opens outwardly andthelower door 10 opens inwardly with regard to the respective conduits.

An endless conveyor chain 11 extending about suitable guides, such as12, passes through both of said conduits, the way 8 and also protrudesfrom the front of the duit 6 is an opening 16, Fig.1, communicating withan endof an air, heating compart ment 1' 7 contain ng a radiator orsystem of pipe 0011s. 18 which are connected by'a pipe 19 with a sourceof steam supply, not shown.

Air is admitted at the rear end, desirably of the compartment ,17through aninlet 2O, whence it travels among the radi-' ator coils tobecomeheated before enteringthe forward end-of the conduit 6 and throughwhich the air is drawn .rearwardly by means -of a power driven suctionfanor blower 21.

'According to the present invention this fanis'connected by a pipe 22with the forward end of conduit 7. and also by means of a bypass pipe 23with a chamber 24 which communicates with chambers 25 and 25 openinginto the top and bottom, respec tively, ofthe conduit 6 in proximity ofthe rear end of the latter. 1

Provided for the openings 26 between conduit 6 and the chambers 25 and25 are foraminated or screen gates 27,27 hingedly connected to thecasing at the rear of the openings 26 by means of fulcrum shafts 28, 28These gates are of sufiicient lengths to meet, or nearly so when swunginto the po sitions in which they are represented by full lines in Fig.3 whereupon they constitute a transverse partition in the conduit 6.

Valves Y29 and 30 are respectively provided for the inlet ends of thepipes 22 and 23. These valves are preferably of the balanced orbutter-fly type, the same being secured intermediate -their-'-wi'dths tocrank haft 1. a d 30 T r s 2?? assist)? of the respective shafts areconnected by rods 31 and 32 with a crank-arm 33 provided on the fulcrumshaft 28, and the crank-arm 33 of the latter is, in turn, connected by arod 34 with a crank arm 33 provided on the fulcrum shaft 28 Theaforesaid valves 29 and 30 are operatively connected together by therespective cranks and rods 31 and 32 in a manner so that when one isopen the other one is closed. Said valves are, moreover, operativelyconnected with said fulcrum shafts 28, 28 by means of the rod 34 andcrank arms 33, 33 in such a manner that the screen gates 27, 27 will becaused to extend across the duct 6 when the valve 29 is open; and withthe valve 30 open when the gates are brought into the openings 26 whichcommunicate through chambers 25, 25 with. the by-pass pipe 23.

35 represents a weight attached to a crank arm 33 provided on one ofsaid fulcrum shafts for the purpose of yieldingly holding the gates 27,27 in positions to extend across the conduit 6. 36 represents a crankhandle secured to the shaft 29 whereby the screen gates and valves maybe manually operated and controlled.

The operation of the invention is as follows:

As the drums 15 are moved in the direc tion of the feathered arrowsshown in Fig. 1, they will successively encounter the screen gates 27,27 to swing the same from the full line positions in which they areshown in Fig. 3 to the positions in which the are indicated by brokenlines 27 in such view. This, it is to be understood, will occur whileeach drum is passing through the gate-way, so to speak, of the conduit6.

After a drum has passed beyond the gates the weight 35 asserts its powerto return the gates to their original'positions. As hereinbeforementioned, the valve 30 is closed and valve 29 is open when the gatesare in the positions denoted by full lines in Fig. 3 whereby the suctioncreated by the blower 21 will compel all of the air currents from theheating compartment 17 to pass through the screens of the gates when theair is traveling as indicated by arrows W through the conduit 7 to reachthe blower connection 22. a

When the screen gates are in dotted line 27 positions Fig. 3, or asindicated'in Fig. 1, the valve 30 is open and the air currents, arediverted through the bypass pipe 23. Hence it is apparent that the aircurrents must travel through the screens of the gates in either of theabove explained positions of the same. 'When extending across theconduit 6 the screens of the gates intercept the lint, etc, but when thegatesare positioned in the outlets of the conduit into chambers 25, 25the lint, etc., will be on the outer sides of the screens and the aircurrents passing outwardly therethrough will be capable of dislodgingsuch substances and conveying them to the blower without passing throughthe conduit 7.; V

It may be said that, the clothes when approaching the region of thegates become quite dry and therebeyond the lint becomes exceedinglyvolatile. Such volatile lint if permitted to travel with the aircurrents through the conduit 7 becomes saturated with moisture in thelatter and if allowed to be deposited upon the drums tend to close theforaminations of the same to prevent the air for drying from. passingthrough the drums with a loss in the efliciency of the.

machine. The present invention overcomes the above noted objections bywithdrawing nearly allof the lint from the machine be fore the dryingair encounters the relatively wet drums.

hen it is desirable to continue the bypassing of the drying air for aperiod longer than would prevail when controlled by the travel of a drumby the gates, the operator may control the gates and valves through theinstrumentality of the crank handle 36.

. This crank handle may also be employed to regulate such apparatusindependently of the automatic control accorded by the drums. p

, hat I claim, is v 1. In clothes-drying machine having a drying chamberwith. an air inlet at one end thereof, an air outlet at its other endand a second air'outlet between such ends, of means to eifect thedischarge of air through either of said outlets selectively,"and ascreen arranged to be used interchangeably in both of said'outlets.

2. In a clothes-drying machine'having a drying chamber with an air inletat one end thereof, an outlet at its other end and a second air outletbetween such ends, and means to effectthe flow of airalternately'through both of said outlets, a screen gate provided withinsaid chamber, means for regulating said gateto cause the same to bepositioned across the chamber and the second named outlet respectivelywhen the air is discharged from' said chamber through the first andsecond named outlets.

3, In a clothes-drying machine having a I outlet at the other end and asecond outlet lected into the other of said pipe connections when theair currents pass through the latter.

4:. In a clothes-drying machine having a drying chamber provided with anoutlet at one end and a second outlet intermediate its ends, an air fanconnected with both of said outlets, valves for the respective outlets,a screen gate operatively connected to both of said valves, means toyieldingly retain said gate in position to screen the air passingthrough the aforesaid end outlet, a clothes containing drum, and meansto effect the travel of said drum through said chamber whereby said drumis instrumental in moving the gate and valves into positions whereby theair is caused to be temporarily discharged from the chamber through thegate and the second named outlet.

5. In a ventilator for clothes drying-Inachines, the combination with adrying chamber having an air inlet at one end, an air intermediate thelength of said chamber, a suction fan, pipe connections between each ofsaid outlets and the fan, and valves for the respective pipeconnections, of a screen gate provided interiorly of the drying chamber,and means for operating said gate to position the same alternatelyacross the second named outlet and across the chamber between the twooutlets, said means being connected with said valves whereby the saidfan isrendered operative to efiect the passage of air through said gatein both of the aforesaid positions thereof. I

6. In a clothes-drying machine, a suction fan for supplying clothesdrying air to the machine, a screen gate provided in the machine, andmeans to regulate the position of the gate whereby the air is caused topass alternately through the gate from opposite sides thereof.

Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 10th day of October, 1919.

CHARLES W. COLLINS. Witnesses: 1

PIERRE BARNEs, ELIZABETH JOHNSON.

